I can’t help feeling that the people most likely to buy a Von Bondies album are exactly the type of person for whom ‘relevance’ is everything.
The Von Bondies – Love, Hate and Then There’s You
http://www.vonbondies.com/ http://www.fiercepanda.co.uk/
One for the ‘Christ are they still going’ files, this. Whatever else the band do, Jason Stollmeister and co will almost certainly be remembered for the single C’mon, C’mon, a song that was ubiquitous back in 2004 (and of course for having a lead singer who once got twatted by Jack White). In the interim they’ve lost a few members, been ditched by their label and finally emerged to make a new album which sounds… well a lot like the last one.
Opener This is Our Perfect Crime kicks things off nicely, with some bombastic drumming, elastic bass-lines and mean riffing picking up where previous garage rock efforts on Pawn Shoppe Heart left off. As the album progresses the one major difference to previous work becomes clear: there is now more of a pop sheen to much of the fare. Therein lies the problem: it seems as if the band can’t decide if they want to make an assault on the mainstream, or be true to the garage roots. The results are a few too many tracks that don’t work on either level. Shut Your Mouth feels too long even at a relative brief two minutes.
Whilst Stollmeister knows his way around a hook, there is nothing as insistent as C’mon, C’mon. The first half of the album in particular, despite the bright opener, tends to merge and blur into one. There are some good moments but five years on the band just don’t seem relevant. Of course the discerning listener might not give a shit about such loaded and essentially meaningless terminology. I can’t help feeling that the people most likely to buy a Von Bondies album are exactly the type of person for whom ‘relevance’ is everything.
Words: Rover